Top Shelf Tuesday - January 27

January 27, 2009

The Beasties' hip hop opus Paul's Boutique gets remastered, the Afro Samurai Resurrection soundtrack hits store shelves, and big time shooting action comes to the Wii...the lowdown on all that and more can be found after the jump in this week's Top Shelf Tuesday!

Source: Magnolia Pictures

DVD

A horror film that will have you on pins and needles, Splinter is a terrifying little horror film that might not have made it to a theater near you when it was released. Which makes today a good day, because you can now get it on DVD and find out what the buzz around this sharp movie was all about. Extras include behind-the-scenes footage taken while the movie was being made, a making-of featurette and deleted scenes. If it got under your skin that your local cineplex didn’t show Splinter then grab it now and get ready for some pokes and prods.

Woody Allen’s latest masterpiece, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which resulted in an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Penelope Cruz this year, is out on DVD and Blu-ray. And this is one that all Woody Allen fans are going to want to fill out their collection. While Allen isn’t a big believer in extras, the movie looks beautiful in both standard definition DVD and Blu-ray, and stands alone as one of the director’s finest films.

Music

Souce: Capitol Records

Yeah! The Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique has officially been digitally remastered for the first time, with the production overseen personally by the band to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release. The original vinyl artwork has been faithfully restored in this 8 panel eco-friendly limited edition CD with fold-out poster. It also includes a free digital download for a track-by-track commentary by the band discussing each song over the music - Paul's Boutique "The Director's Cut" bonus audio. This is hands down one of the greatest hip hop albums ever made and will be a treat for Beastie diehards as well as any newcomers to the New York trio.

Afro Samurai Resurrection is the brand new soundtrack to the second season of Spike's critically-acclaimed animated television show and DVD featuring the badass voice of Mr. Samuel L. Jackson. The score, produced entirely by Wu Tang Clan mastermind The RZA, features some of the bigger names in hip hop the scene, including Ghostface Killah, The RZA/Bobby Digital, Kool G Rap, Rah Digga, Inspectah Deck, Killah Priest and some special guest vocals by Sly Stone himself. Sly freakin’ Stone!

Games

Source: UFO Interactive

The Wii generally shies away from shooters because of it’s all-too-family-friendly image. Nobody wants to use the BFG 9000 to mow down the Mii they created of their Grandma (or do they?). So, Wii decided to shut up all the people gunning for more guns out there with the aptly named Ultimate Shooting Collection. There are three shooters on a single disc in the collection: Chaos Field, Radio Allergy (a.k.a. Radirgy) and Karous. All three are rated E for fantasy violence, and the triumvirate will set you back (appropriately) $30.

Coraline is the game based on the movie, which in turn is based on a book by Neil Gaiman. It’s the prototypical English fairy tale in which a young innocent unwittingly uses the magic within themselves to discover an enchanted world in their own backyard (like Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, etc.). This time, the innocent is a girl, Coraline, and you have to guide her through what can only be described as a bizarro version of her own house featuring a conniving witch in place of her mother.